search for flight mh 370. nevertheless, i did want to update the house on this potentially important development. >> and these are the satellite images that the australian safety -- australian maritime safety authority has released, showing those objects in the southern part of the indian ocean. right now, aircraft have been sent to that location for a closer look. australia is leading the search in the far parts of this ocean. and a maritime safety officials estimates the largest of the two

objects is 24 meters, or 79 feet across. >> the images were captured by satellite. they may not be related to the aircraft. the assessment of these images of provided by the a.g.o., as a possible indication of debris south of the search area that has been the focus of the southern search operation since monday, 17th of march. the image is in the vicinity of the search area defined and searched in the past two days. >> the objects are relatively indistinct on the imagery. i don't profess to be an expert in assessing the imagery. but those who are expert, indicate they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size. >> a malaysian government source says six navy ships and three

helicopters are being sent to the indian ocean to take part in the search. and malaysia airlines says relatives of the 239 people on board have been briefed on

base, waiting for confirmation. a lot of the information coming out is coming out of canberra and we heard earlier the australian prime minister talking about credible new information. that's a big step politically to say that without having some degree of expectations that this is in fact a link to the missing airplane. no one is saying that, john, as we've all been reporting, least of all the australian government, but tony abot, just by briefing the house, the australian parliament, and the press conference we heard from john young, who's in charge of the australian maritime authority, that's leading the search, all say that, yes, there are these objects out there. it is evidence to suggest it's linked, but it's far too early to say. these are relatively indistinct

objects. they're big, but at this stage, we won't know what they are, at least from satellite pictures, at least until commercial satellites have retuned on that area. they'll provide much more high resolution pictures than the pictures now being released from the australian satellite intelligence community, which has sparked this whole move in the first place. >> immediately, now, how much daylight is left for the search to continue? and bigger picture, what is the time frame here on getting some confirmation one way or the other? >> well, it will take as long as it takes, john. they have another five or so hours of daylight. so the briefing from the maritime officials were warning we may not get anything today. there may be no visual sighting. but the time frame is really best captured by the fact that the beacons, which would indicate where the plane is, at least where parts of the plane are, the search beacons, have a

life of about one month. so we're getting towards halfway through that. and as i said, this is still a large area. still a lot of work to do. for example, the australian navy has dispatched one of its warships to the zone where those objects were spotted. that's going to take several days to get there. there are, we understand, commercial vessels that have been through the other areas in that southern sector, which have been of interest. the question now, which we don't know what the answer is to yet, is whether a commercial ship pz now been diverted to that area where shethese objects were see. but the time frame at this stage is just how long the beacons will keep working? incredibly deep water, we're talking perhaps 13,000 feet. this is the same sort of depth that the air france wreckage was found in, some two years after it went down. >> and andrew, i understand

there's a cnn cameraman on board one of those search planes. how long before we get to see the images from our camera operator there? >> well, we're expecting him to be back on the ground in roughly five hours from now. he wasn't allowed to take any other electronic equipment. he hasn't been able to contact us to say what he's seen. we can only speculate. he's on one of those australian air force pc-3 orions which has been on the site for two hours or so. it probably would still be there before turning around in about an hour or so. >> so we will get confirmation one way or another from him, as to whether they've seen anything, whether there's reports of anything in the water. that's about 8:00 local time, about five hours from now. >> thank you, andrew stevens from just outside perth. we'll be speaking with andrew in about 30 minutes from now for yet another update.

meantime, we're following developments in kuala lumpur. i guess this is an emotional roller coaster ride for the families and the friends of those who were on board this plane. relief and all sorts of emotions now running through their minds. >> yeah, they've had their hopes raised and crushed so many times. so i think they're taking this cautiously, this news. what we understand what the further of one of the passengers on board, he spoke briefly to the press, saying simply that he and other family members have been notified of this finding by malaysia airlines authorities, but they have not been fully briefed. they will get a fuller briefing later tonight is our understanding. he also said he couldn't speak for other family members, that he personally still had some hope of finding everybody on

board safely, but obviously with this latest news, they are also preparing for the worst. he said whatever happens, he will accept whatever they find. at this point, he told us, he simply wants to have some sort of concrete details. some sort of clarity from either the australian search team that's out there, or the malaysian team, saying they just want to know what happened to the plane. >> and publicly at least, it seems malaysian officials are reacting with a good deal of caution. >> yes, a good deal of caution. i mean, remember, weave seen before satellite pictures that turned out not to be the debris. so they've had their hopes many times. there were even hopes at one point that possibly the plane had landed somewhere on the ground. now to know that this is possibly debris in the ocean they found, it's a roller coaster of emotions for many family members.

so for the most part, they're staying indoors. they don't want to speak to the press. we've reached out to other family members as well. people have said they don't want to be disturbed at this time. which is completely understandable. they're taking it cautiously. they want to have confirmation, but as we've heard, that could take several days as they try and verify whether or not this is actually debris from the plane. >> the malaysian government has been quick to react by sending ships and helicopters to the region. >> yeah, i mean, i think the malaysian government has been trying to send out more search teams out there to try and verify. but the fact is, it is so far from the coast, something like 2,500 kilometers southwest of perth. so it's going to take several days for the ships to get there. the ships are what's critical to verify the information. so the malaysian government is being very cautious. they don't want to have a situation where information is put out, false hopes are raised

and then they have to retract that. there's been so many false reports, they don't want to repeat that. that's why they're being cautious with the information they're putting out at this point. >> thank you very much. coming up next here, the focus may be a little more refined now, but the challenge of finding the plane remains enormous. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. does your makeup do that? i reckoreckon so.s a brewin'. reckon you gotta hotel? reckon, no. reckon priceline express deals will get you a great deal. wherever you...mosey. you reckon? we reckon. vamonos the spring hotel sale is on at priceline.com. save up to 60% on any express deal hotel,

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welcome back. updating you now on our breaking news. australian authorities say two objects in the southern indian ocean may be related to flight 370. john young says visibility is poor in the area, so they're redirecting surveillance planes there to try and identify the debris. young says the largest object appears to be about 24 meters, or 79 feet, but he described it

as a blob on the satellite imagery. this is what the australian prime minister tony abbott had to say. >> the australian maritime safety authority has received information, based on satellite imagery, of objects possibly related to the search. following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified. >> a senior fellow at the australian national university, the anu, joins us live from canberra. it's good to speak with you. i want to get to the issue of the satellite and what may have been seen, but just explain the process here. the satellite picks up these images and then what happens? >> well, the images are several days old now. they're from the 16th of march. they are captured by a satellite.

and then that is transferred to the defense imagery and geospecial organization, now called a.g.o., where the analysts review the data and consider, they go through and find a detail. looking for any kind of aspects that might look remotely like some fuselage of an aircraft, something like that. now, as it turns out, the photos we've seen that are available now online, actually, they're partially submerged and they are consistent also with what could be seen as an iso container. so we have to be careful not to get our hopes up too high that this is in fact part of the fuselage of because there's beeo

little else out there to give us any kind of shred of hope that we might have found something. this is consistent with other imagery in the past. we've seen similar kind of fuselage pieces that might have been floating around in the ocean. so the imagery analysts would have looked at this and compared notes with previous imagery they would have collected over the years and correlated this and seen that that approximates a piece of fuselage from an aircraft. but they can't be certain. that's why it's so important that these aircraft that are flying over that site right now, can verify the data, can take their own photographs, in addition to additional satellite imagery that's been taken at the moment. and try and get some clarity on where it is and what it is. >> yeah. >> the other thing to bear in mind is the currents are shifting this. so the photos are taken several days ago. what we see in the photos isn't

necessarily what the pilots flying the surveillance aircraft this evening are going to see over the southern indian ocean at the moment. >> so, john, what i'm curious about here, it seems it was just a few days ago, this search really focused on that southern arc, in this area we're now looking at. now we've had this breakthrough. can you explain what happened? was it just a lucky break? >> well, look, there's a number of systems that are operating in australia's surveillance space. there's the radar network, and the pine gap satellite system. the operational radar network is a system that uses ion spheric radar detection over the horizon. that spans most of the eastern indian ocean to australia's north. covering this zone and beyond depending on the ion spherics. but the thing is, traditionally

the focus in the last few months at least, if i can say that, has been on the north of the australia. that's because of the concern about people smugglers. concern about the southeastern indian ocean has been very low on the priority list. after all, what happens there? i mean, this is a part of the world that's infrequently traveled. infrequently even talked about. so it's not been a focus. so while it's peripherally on the radar scope, literally and metaphorically, it's not been a main focus. what they've had to do is go through the data banks of what they've stored in the past, to try to find any hints of anything that might give them a clue. there's been very little to go by, very little indeed. so the correlation of all the data from the gingerly operation radar network, which i suspect didn't show up anything at all, combining that with satellite

imagery and other satellite systems that might have given some clues about where it could be, have all pointed to this one area, where the imagery was scoured in detail. so the analysts have gone through and look for any kind of anomalies to indicate a people-made object. >> finally, we're told the commercial satellite will be repositioned to try to get another pass, try and get a closer look, maybe find other debris in the area. how soon do you expect imagery from the commercial satellite? >> well, hopefully we'll get imagery from the aircraft first. we've got -- there are four aircraft there at the moment. u.s. navy p-8, poseidon aircraft, an australian p-3 and one other as well. lots of eyes on the target, scouring for any indications. that may happen before we get

some more satellite imagery. satellite imagery can take a while to steer to the right spot to get the right image. it's not something you can pluck out of the air quickly, particularly if you want a fresh image. that's what we're after. with the currents moving, it's hard t hard to know exactly where to look. this is literally a needle in a haystack. so we have to be cautious and not overly optimistic about anything we're going to find in the next hours, or possibly days. >> so what you're saying, it's still a long process before we have any kind of confirmation. john, thank you very much for the insight into the satellite imagery, which may be responsible for a breakthrough in the search for flight 370. australian officials have said the visibility in the search area is poor. let's go to the international weather center for details. also, what's the forecast for the area? >> the bad weather is beginning

to move out of the region. so what they're dealing with is just getting to the aircraft at this hour. we know there are storms rolling through the region, but the satellite perspective very quiet over much of australia. but shift your attention to the south midwest of the southern tip of australia, you see an elongated feature. that's a nice sign of a cold front. keep in mind, this is the first day of autumn, or fall across the southern hemisphere. bringing in the search zone area, where they're headed out to, you see the front beginning to exit the region. beyond this, the weather will improve over the next couple of days. one thing to keep in mine, sailors know all about this region because of the winds that park in place and the 40-degree latitudenal mark. the sailors called this the roaring 40s. then the serious 50s, the screaming 60s, all of this based

on the winds in this region worldwide. the sailors use this route, but you look at the weather pattern. clouds in the area, thunderstorms possible, but scattered in the region. rain fall minimal, but the concern is gusty winds. as high as 55 to 60 kilometers per hour. so tropical storm force winds in this region over the next couple of days. just switching the routers and showing you where the storm system is, where the satellite pings were and the search system coming down from the southern arc. you see the storm system, the only weather maker in this part of the world, happens to be located on the northern fringe of the search zone. so it's beginning to exit, but it will make it treacherous for the officials out there to see what they can spot below. >> so many people waiting on the information from those planes.

few more hours to go yet. thanks. >> it's been an excruciating wait for the family and friends of the passengers on board flight 370. up next, we'll go to a hotel where families heard this latest news. ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of living off the taste of the air ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ finally, i have a manly chocolatey snack ♪ ♪ and fiber so my wife won't give me any more flack ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪

>> 25 minutes past 3:00 a.m. in the united states. this is the breaking news we have on the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. australian prime minister says authorities may have found two objects related to the missing plane. they were detected by satellite. 2,500 kilometers or 1,400 miles from the coast of western

australia. aircrafts have been sent for a closer look. he's tweeted his government is now waiting confirmation. like so many other people are waiting. news of the discovery of a possible object from flight 370 is reverberating across china. david mckenzie joins us from the ledo hotel in beijing. family members have been there for so many days now. they were clinging to hope, many of them, the plane may have been hijacked and their relatives were still alive. how are they dealing with that news? >> they're dealing with it by waiting. and they've been waiting for days now, almost 13 days, in this hotel behind me. hundreds of family members of those on board mh 370. as you say, as the days have gone by and the news comes in and then the news is false, and the leads come in and the hope is false, these people have been

agonizing over every tidbit of information they can. at this stage, it's the same thing. they don't want to lose any hope. so they're going to wait and see until they get any final confirmation one way or another. but i can tell you, they're really following this extremely closely. we spoke to a psychologist who said they are coming here, the volunteer psychologists, also the paramedics on the scene, they worry with all these hopes being dashed and then brought back again, that the response, when any news does come of the plane, will be overwhelming for these families, john. >> i know you're saying that people are there keeping their hopes in check, or they're just watching and waiting to see what happens, but is there a sense now that somehow this time it's different? >> you don't get that sense necessarily, it's almost that people don't want to tempt fate. they don't want to talk to the press.

they're filing in and out of the conference room where they've been for days on end to get information. really no one wants to speak all that much. almost like anything they say might tempt fate and might bring that final answer. one psychologist we spoke to, said he fears the worst. some of the elderly have said they have their only children on board that plane because of the one-child policy here in china. some of them have been expressing very open suicidal thoughts. so it's certainly a terrible trauma these families have been going through. they arrived on that saturday morning 12 days ago, john, and they expected the worst then. but as the days go by, they go through all these scenarios in their head like we've been going through, trying to cling on to hope. earlier, they were saying, why isn't the search speeding up? take a listen to this man.

>> translator: how is it possible for a plane to lose contact? that is not possible. the u.s. is not stupid. the u.s. found bin laden. how could they not find a plane? from 1:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., malaysia airlines knew where the plane was all along. you keep lying to all the families. >> reporter: we've seen that anger boil up over the days and now, really, it's this waiting, this agonizing waiting, as people maybe in their heart of hearts know this could be it. but of course we've been here before. >> absolutely. thank you, david mckenzie. live for us in beijing. you're watching cnn's special coverage of the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. coming up next, we'll go to australia for the latest on the two objects spotted by satellite that might just be part of the plane. o learn so classes impact your career. while helping ensure credits you've already earned pay off. and we have career planning tools to keep you on track every step of the way.

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